“On December 12, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new ordering and reservation system that could work with various Apple iDevices,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.

“Although the system can be modified to be apply to movie theaters, repair services, museums and the like, Apple’s main focus is on a restaurant market application,” Purcher reports. “Our cover graphic [see full article] was taken from Apple’s ‘Life on iPad’ promotional video where they illustrated a chef or short order cook using the iPad as part of an ordering system. Today’s patent just happens to detail such a system.”

Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations and diagrams, in the full article here.

This idea could work very well, to the advantage of customers and businesses.

It could be particularly useful in tourist areas, where there is often a language problem and a foreign person who speaks reasonable English might find it difficult to understand a waiter who is also foreign, but speaking English with an unfamiliar accent. Obviously it would also help people who don’t speak the language at all, as the tablet could allow translation.

The idea of eliminating menu options based on allergies and dietary preferences is also great. I have a friend who suffered a stroke and now has speech which strangers struggle to understand, but she is also intolerant to gluten and broadly follows a Kosher diet. She often has quite a problem communicating this issue in restaurants. A system like this would address both problems for her.

Managing queues of customers is always a tricky task and this system could work well for both sides. A restaurant could flag up that they will have vacant table in 20 minutes and maybe attract a customer who otherwise might not have gone there, while a customer could either ask for a table at a specific restaurant, or a table at any nearby Chinese restaurant within 15 minutes.

Has she tried a packed lunch?
I don’t mean to sound insensitive as I too do have a particular dietary requirement, but the only way to be one hundred percent sure is to take control of ones own personal life.
Too many of us have allowed the supermarkets to tell us what we should be eating by raising and dropping prices on pre-cooked foods, likewise restaurants do the same by promoting supersized meals for a $ or less. This has meant that our lifestyles are lived in an imbalance of intake and output, hence the state of health of the nation today. But do we blame the source of this situation? NO! we demand better health care and cheaper health care.
What we all need is an athletes ethos. train hard, eat the right foods in the right amounts and rest properly, not electronic gaming, cinema going, but actual sleep based rest that frees the mind and mends the body.
Sorry for the rant!
Where passion rules, limits do not exist.

Too often folks with special needs expect everyone else to bow to their needs, and it just isn’t practical. I find your perspective to be much needed, not just in special needs, but to the common man, as well. You’re absolutely right that we need to take back control of a great many things: (Not to derail the thread, but you kinda started it. :) ) Health care. The government at large. Our diets. Our freedoms.

Passions (so long as they aren’t harmful to others, illegal, etc.) should rule us all!